I need to fly from Melbourne to San Fran in a couple of weeks, and after a lifetime of only flying Qantas internationally, I find myself needing to fly a Star Alliance airline in e

I need to fly from Melbourne to San Fran in a couple of weeks, and after a lifetime of only flying Qantas internationally, I find myself needing to fly a Star Alliance airline in economy. Which is better out of Air NZ and Delta? And is there any Star Alliance FF club that will status match? Or am I doomed to a week of loungelessness?

Air NZ is your best option. It is also much easier to connect in AKL than it is in LAX. Plus NZ offers 777/747 internaitonal grade aircraft ex MEL to AKL so it just enhances the journey a little bit more. Air NZ does offer paid lounge access for its international flights so you will have access in MEL AKL (and depending on routing LAX).

MEL-AKL-SFO is best option.

Also for approx $500 you can join Koru Club which will not only give you lounge access for yourself and a +1, you also receive Priority Check-In, Baggage Handling and Boarding etc...

PS. Delta is Skyteam not Star Allicance.

Thanks for the tips. Not having to go through LAX sounds like a dream! The Tom Bradly Terminal is possibly the worst place on Earth.

As far as lounge access is concerned, you could sign up to Priority Pass for a couple of hundered bucks or so. They have lounge partners in MEL, AKL & SFO.

I'll hopefully be going back to Wantas after this, so it wouldn't be worth it for this journey, but if I end up in the same situation in a couple of months time, I'll definitely pick one up. Thanks for the tip :)

Aliepire,

Either way you will have to make a stop-over i.e. there are no airlines offering a non-stop MEL/SFO service.

So given that, why not just fly QF/AA and transit in LAX? At least you get to use the lounges in MEL, LAX and the SFO Admirals clubs on the way back?

Or is this some stupid work rule about having to fly another airline besides QF?

OP states he is in the situation "needing to fly Star Alliance", hence I guess QF is out of the question and so is DL (as it is Skyteam as Koru17 pointed out!). UA is another option, or actually, UA is never an option ;)

I'd stick with NZ unless OP wants to fly via SYD and ICN (which is a bit out of the way).

The rationale of needing to fly Star Alliance is unclear, which made me assume the logic was for direct flights. 

The direct flight objective cannot be fulfilled in this case. Ergo, why bother changing? 

Ah, yeah. I should have bee more clear about that. All the Qantas/AA flights have already been taken for the day I need to travel there, and the convieniently timed one is also sold for the day I return. One of the drawbacks of not having a lot of notice. :(

Believe me, if given the option, I would be on Qantas.

Alicepire, have you considered flying with Cathay Pacific? It's slightly longer journey but well worth it. And no transiting in the US!

I second TRB, CX is the way to go. Direct from HKG to SFO, all in all it should not add too much time extra having to fly to HKG first. Also, as you said you fly QF normally, I'm assuming you might have status thus being able to use Priority check in, the lounge and you would have other perks attached to OW status privileges. At a minimum you'll rack up some mileage and status credits.

Sadly, Cathay Pacific wasn't an option for the days needed either. In the end, only Virgin (via Delta on the way there) had flights that suited when I needed to leave and land :(

Ahh well. One week of no lounge might not kill me, right? *famous last words*

You could ask Virgin for a match to your Qantas status, which would get you lounge access for both Air NZ and Delta. I don't think that they are officially handing them out at the moment, but I've heard plenty of stories of people getting them just by calling and asking so it's worth a shot. 

So far I have tried playing call centre bingo three times with them, sadly they haven't given in yet. I also called Emirates and Air NZ to no avail.

If you don't mind a LAX transit There soon will be a Nonstop out of Melbourne using UA and their 787 where you transfer there and clear immigration onto a Local domestic flight to San Francisco.